School of Jazz guest DJs for April: Oren Sternberg and Isaac Plummer

Tenor sax players with the Eckstein Middle School jazz band, barely teenaged Isaac Plummer and Oren Sternberg have already spent many years listening to jazz. You can listen to an hour of their favorite jazz songs as April’s KNKX School of Jazz guest DJs.

Plummer, a 13-year-old, was born into a jazz home. His father Bren Plummer is a professional bassist and composer in jazz and classical fields, and a song from Plummer’s 2018 KNKX Studio Session found its way onto Isaac and Oren’s playlist.

Young Isaac recalled being inspired by the musicians as they practiced for the session in his family’s home when he was just four.

Sternberg is the younger brother of Aytan Sternberg, pianist with the Roosevelt High School jazz band who’s on his way to the Essentially Ellington competition in New York for a second time in May.

Oren was determined to set the record straight on the air, explaining that while his big brother is an inspiration, it was the younger Sternberg who started playing jazz first.

These two middle school musicians are well aware of the jazz legacy at Eckstein, praising their band director Moc Escobedo and suggesting that Roosevelt High’s jazz program owes much of its success to the talent coming from their band.

Neither Sternberg nor Plummer fell for the question of naming the greatest jazz musician ever. Both understand and appreciate that since jazz emphasizes the individual artist and collaboration with others, comparisons are pointless.

These two young brothers in jazz close out their guest DJ hour with a live performance of the Brecker Brothers, trumpeter Randy and saxophonist Michael, with pianist Hal Galper’s band. It’s an epic blues with solos full of personality.

You’re sure to enjoy the music, and the personalities of Isaac Plummer and Oren Sternberg. We’re all sure to hear more from these young artists in the years to come.

Which instrument do you play and why?

Isaac: "Tenor sax and drums."

Oren: "I play tenor saxophone. I really like the instrument's versatility of tone and style. The way you can project clearly but also play foofy subtones at the same time is really awesome. When done right, the tenor sax also blends very nicely in a group which is very important in my opinion."

What's your all-time favorite jazz piece?

Isaac: "Right now, probably "On Green Dolphin Street" on the legacy edition of Kind of Blue by Miles Davis."

Oren: "This is a very hard question for me to answer because so many jazz songs are standards that have been played in countless different arrangements and styles by countless artists. For example summertime sounds very different when bird plays it with an orchestra in an old Hollywood style, vs when trane plays it on his modern and groundbreaking album my favorite things."

Who is your jazz hero?

Isaac: "Sonny Rollins, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Michael Brecker, Dizzy Gillespie... too many to mention."

Oren: "If I had to pick a few though, in no order, I might choose John Coltrane, Lester Young, Sonny Stitt, Charlie Parker, Sonny Rollins, and Patrick Bartley."

Why jazz?

Isaac: "Because it's just so good and there is lots of depth and portrayal."

Oren: "I think jazz is a music rooted deep in musical expression and art. Whether it be pain and suffering, joy, anger, and really any feeling you can think of, expressing your emotions through art is something truly special, and jazz gives me that ability through the great musical tradition of improvisation, giving me free reign to express my emotions. Another thing that I like about jazz, is that although you can express individual emotions, it’s also a social music which I sometimes find difficult as I’m not a particularly socially outgoing person, but I still think it’s very important because it can bring people together, lots of times total strangers."

Isaac and Oren's playlist:

1. "Dear Old Stockholm" Rob Parton's Jazztech Big Band
2. "I Can't Give You Anything But Love" Sonny Stitt
3. "All of Me" Ella Fitzgerald
4. "Four" Miles Davis
5. "Cookin'" Clifford Brown
6. "Portrait of Louis Armstrong" Duke Ellington Orchestra
7. "Dig Dis" Hank Mobley
8. "Sycophantic Chanteuse" Bren Plummer
9. "Hey Fool" Hal Galper